One of Swords Podcast 080: Superfluous Zippers

by Dan on August 3, 2011

Somehow, Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling and Sledgehammer Games’ Glen Schofield manage to give me 15 minutes of their time this week to give me a status update on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 — we talk about what the team is up to now, the in-progress Spec Ops trailer, patch possibilities for COD4 & MW2, and confirm the existence of MW3 on Wii. Then Kat and Hugh and I race through the rest of the podcast for a very important reason…which will be revealed after we discuss the Activision earnings call, Bewitched, Hugh’s rules about friction, the new home of “Black Lotus,” the Cabela’s title that was quietly confirmed and nobody noticed, Freddy Krueger, more of what you can expect at Call of Duty XP, Danny Dogvito (you read that right), Annihilation’s hidden secrets, and an epic story from Hugh about one of his many visits to the Playboy mansion, which includes celebrities, making out, near-fights, and someone who “leads with their nipples.”

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More info after the jump…

Special Guest: Glen Schofield, co-founder, Sledgehammer Games/Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Special Guest: Robert Bowling, creative strategist, Infinity Ward/Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Co-host: Hugh Sterbakov, screenwriter, comic creator, and Emmy-nominated writer/toy wrangler for Robot Chicken
Co-host: Katrin Auch, graphic designer, bassist, photographer, light gun enthusiast, videographer, worgen mage, and inventor of Headshotmas

Soundtrack: Yameen – available on iTunes, Amazon MP3, and all online music stores

Relevant show links:

  • http://twitter.com/natehubes Nate

    Dear Hollywood Hugh,
    I just finished the first season of Heroes and really enjoyed.  I was just wondering if you knew anyone on the show or even liked the show.

  • Hugh Sterbakov

    Hey dude. Milo Ventimiglia put out a comic from Top Cow while we were working on Freshmen, so I met him a few times. Really great, very genuine guy. I wish I knew him better. And I know Jeph Loeb well, he was a producer/writer on the show. Otherwise, I’ve come across a couple other folks, like Hayden P and Kristen Bell, in passing because we have friends in common. Nothing but nice things to say about them.

    Heroes was a hard pill to swallow. Good premise and fun style, but it never lived up to its potential, and it quickly spiraled into an embarrassment. I can’t think of any other franchise that lit up and then wore out its welcome so quickly. I wish they could start over. I’m sure they do too. And I wish I could have written for that show, but I imagine the politics involved were crushing their creativity.

  • Mackenzie Theodore

    Not all teenagers are stupid and ignorant, please remember that.

  • http://twitter.com/natehubes Nate

    Nice! I agree with it spiraling down hill to me the first season was a thrilling joy ride but I just watched the first 3 episodes of the second season and it just doesn’t capture the same thrill.  Cool to know you actually met some of the actors though.

  • http://oneofswords.com/ Dan (OneOfSwords)

    Don’t believe I said that. Please don’t assume I did. 

  • Mackenzie Theodore

    your right.

  • Garnsr

    This episode had tons of potential titles. 

    It was nice to get away from the Activision talk and hear from our favorite Robot Chicken crewmember.   It seems like Hugh was more Hollywood once upon a time, did he just never get the breaks that some of his friends did, that let them lead the depraved lives he talked about?  I would listen to a whole Hollywood Hugh podcast, given the chance.

  • Pingback: Treyarch developing Modern Warfare 3 for Wii - Wii News at GameSpot

  • Hugh Sterbakov

    If you want fond memories of the series, watch no further. :)

  • Hugh Sterbakov

    You gotta be young and have stamina to do the kinds of things I talked about in this episode. A guy pushing 40 doesn’t find himself in those situations. And most of my craziest adventures were only made possible because my friends were young actors. It was a fleeting glance into an ever-evolving secret society that no one gets to stay in very long…and there’s nothing else in the world quite like it.

    As for the breaks…well, I dump on myself a lot, but I do think I’ve had a little less luck than some of my friends on the career front. But I got really lucky in love, and I’d take that over a financial windfall any day. Things seem to be taking a really nice turn at the moment though, so maybe I’ll have a chance to shine soon. And a lot of important people think highly of me, so maybe once the dam breaks I’ll be spewing Hugh goo all over the world. We’ll see…

  • Pingback: Modern Warfare 3 On Wii Is In Familiar Hands | Kotaku Australia

  • Anonymous

    Hugh, you have a lot of stories to share and I really enjoyed them.  Can we expect a It sucks to be Hugh podcast any time soon?  Just you and Dan and maybe Seth green telling crazy stories.

  • http://oneofswords.com/ Dan (OneOfSwords)

    On that show, I would constantly try to interrupt with stories about classic arcade games and breaking Activision news. 

  • hardline_pro

    Is there going to be split screen MP in MW3? I know there is in Spec Ops…

  • http://twitter.com/reddjoey Joe M.
  • Hugh Sterbakov

    Hey guys… I realize I haven’t posted the info for the cancer society donation just yet, but I have a couple things to line up before I can do so. Rest assured that it’ll be posted here, but the contest will run through next week’s show, so you don’t have to worry about checking constantly for a window between my post and the time running out. Thanks for your interest, and stay tuned!

  • Hugh Sterbakov

    Wow. Thanks for letting me know. What an aggravating journey it’s been with this game. I bought the first expansion, but a friend lent me the disc to load up the others. I wouldn’t advocate stealing, but I truly thought I was buying the whole package on LIVE in the first place.

    I’ve spent $30 total on the whole package now, or what it generally costs in stores. Could have gotten it for $9.90 right there. Whatevs…

    If you ever see Castlevania Lord of Shadows dirt cheap, please let me know. :)

  • Anonymous

    My left.

  • Hugh Sterbakov

    We’ve talked about switching roles on a special episode–maybe for the holidays–but it’s good you mention this because it’s an opportunity to point out just how incredibly little I actually contribute to this show.

    Dan sends me a concise planner with the structure of the show broken down, complete with the pre-written news items that Kat reads. He records the audio with professional equipment, edits the show, records and cuts the interviews, and adds the music and commercials. On top of that, he and Kat have been ridiculously kind about accommodating my schedule, which has been particularly hectic in the past couple months, and they’ve never once complained when I’ve had to switch times at the last minute. Nor have they ever complained (seriously, anyway) when I’ve derailed their carefully-planned timeline and made the show veer off course, often to the detriment of Dan’s tight schedule. And let’s face it–half the time I’m on air, I’m not even paying attention.

    Were I to do a podcast, it’d only be fair for me to take on all of this burden–a lot of which I wouldn’t even know how to do. And then I’d have to find some legitimate reason to justify my occupying not only space on this planet, but your precious attention and time. Trust me–I’m not up to the task. What I’d love to do is a daily show, like Howard Stern, where I could comment on the day’s activities and throw in my own lifestyle inanity as it comes. But that kind of time and effort would be impossible unless someone were to pay me, and I’d have to really pursue that. At the moment, I’m too busy failing in Hollywood and publishing to attempt to fail in radio (kidding, but y’know). I have posted a ton of material on my blog, though, so you can check that out at itsuckstobehugh.com.

    I’m so glad that you guys find my contributions entertaining, whether you agree with my opinions or not. But there’s no question that Dan is the star of this show, from top to bottom. :)

  • Garnsr

    No offense to Kat, but I think Hugh gets to be the comedy relief, so Kat gets to play newslady, and doesn’t have to joke around so much when Hugh’s on. 

    Is there enough going for Hugh (I feel silly using the third person, but addressing it to “you” seems weird, too) in show business to keep going at it, or is show business just one of those things that sucks you in, and once you get in a little you can’t really pull yourself away?  Would a Hugh podcast be helpful in getting more show biz action going?  Does a podcast count as show biz?  I’d like to hear Dan derailing Hugh’s show, but I have a feeling it would never find its way back to the rail with Hugh at the wheel.

    And just to try to seem nicer to Hugh than that paragraph looks, I love Robot Chicken, the toys are as great as the writing, I’m not sure what exactly toy wrangling entails, but it’s good stuff.  Are you involved in Titan Maximum, too?  I want more of that, as well.

  • http://twitter.com/reddjoey Joe M.
  • Hugh Sterbakov

    I saw that! It’s cheaper than the regular edition. Bizarre.

    Still, it’s a $10 game in my book. Barely that. Thanks though. :)

  • Hugh Sterbakov

    Hey guys…the details for the Robot Chicken action figure giveaway for my cousin’s cancer run are finally up. All of the details are at:

    http://www.itsuckstobehugh.com/2011/08/robot-chicken-figure-charity.html.

    Long story short (not something I’m known for), all you have to do is donate $10 toward my cousin’s cause and make sure you mention that I sent you, and you’ll be among the names in our random selection to win the figure. Contest runs through October 2, when the race happens. Here’s the link to her site:

    http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/DetermiNation/DNFY11PA?px=22260434&pg=personal&fr_id=35316

    Thanks for the consideration!

  • Anonymous

    Still not $10, but $17.99 for the PS3 version.

    http://www.gamefly.com/game/ps3/Castlevania-Lords-of-Shadow/142190/

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